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For Saudi Arabia, a deal could mean improved security. Saudi Arabia, Washington's most important Arab ally, began exploring ways to open a dialogue with the Islamic Republic two years ago in Iraq and Oman, said a Saudi official. In a bilateral meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the president expressed his desire to broker dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Iran. CHINESE MEDIATION 'BEST OPTION'An Iranian official said the deal covered a range of issues, from security concerns to economic and political issues. "China was the best option considering Iran's lack of trust towards Washington and Beijing's friendly ties with Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Taking up a specific role that the U.S. could not have fulfilled, this was Beijing's first foray into Middle East mediation, an area that for the past few decades was largely occupied by Washington. "I think China was a good partner to do this. I think they're the right people," he said, noting that China invests heavily in Saudi Arabia and is its top trading partner. Chinese President, Xi Jinping (L) is welcomed by Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud (R) at the Palace of Yamamah in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 8, 2022. And not just economically, as it already exports an immense amount of goods to the Middle East and is the largest importer of Saudi oil – but politically.
White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday that while Washington was not directly involved, Saudi Arabia kept U.S. officials informed of the talks with Iran. NUCLEAR TALKSThe agreement comes as Iran accelerates its nuclear program after two years of failed U.S. attempts to revive a 2015 deal that aimed to stop Tehran producing a nuclear bomb. "Saudi Arabia is deeply concerned about Iran's nuclear program," he said. "If this new opening between Iran and Saudi Arabia is going to be meaningful and impactful, it will have to address the concerns about Iran's nuclear program - otherwise the opening is just optics." Friday's agreement also offers hope for more durable peace in Yemen, where a conflict sparked in 2014 has widely been seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
JAKARTA, March 10 (Reuters) - A New Zealand pilot who was taken hostage last month by rebels in Indonesia's Papua region has appeared in videos put out by separatists calling for the United Nations to mediate in the conflict in the resource-rich region. "OPM requests the United Nations to mediate between Papua and Indonesia to work towards Papuan independence," Mehrtens said in one video, echoing comments in a earlier video statement, in which he said he would only be released if Papua became independent. Indonesia's chief security minister and other officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the videos. "No foreign pilots are permitted to work and fly in Papua until Papua is independent," said Mehrtens. In another of the videos, Mehrtens sent his love to his family and asked that any salary he was owed be given to them for food and bills.
French Senate votes to raise retirement age to 64
  + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com   time to read: +1 min
Protesters hold a banner during a demonstration against French government's pension reform plan in Paris as part of a day of national strike and protests in France, January 31, 2023. French senators early on Thursday voted in favour of raising the legal retirement age to 64 from 62, a first win for President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform plans which have sparked protests and strikes across the country. Two hundred and one members of the Senate, dominated by the conservative Les Republicains party, voted in favour of the reform's flagship article 7 on the retirement age, while 115 voted against it. The French upper house is expected to approve the remaining articles of the reform bill later this week. It will then be submitted to a mediation committee between lawmakers from the Senate and the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, next week.
French Senate votes raising retirement age to 64
  + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +1 min
PARIS, March 9 (Reuters) - French senators early on Thursday voted in favour of raising the legal retirement age to 64 from 62, a first win for President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform plans which have sparked protests and strikes across the country. Two hundred and one members of the Senate, dominated by the conservative Les Republicains party, voted in favour of the reform's flagship article 7 on the retirement age, while 115 voted against it. The French upper house is expected to approve the remaining articles of the reform bill later this week. It will then be submitted to a mediation committee between lawmakers from the Senate and the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, next week. The government is hoping the pension changes will be adopted by parliament by the end of the month.
The concern will be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, the sources who helped prepare the document told Reuters on Monday. Brazilian diplomats took part in the negotiation of the declaration criticizing Nicaragua, but chose not to endorse it because it did not leave a door open for negotiations. At the same time, however, the Lula government wants to keep an open door to be a possible channel for dialogue, emphasizing that Brazil is committed to democracy and wants to play a "constructive" role in solving the crisis in Nicaragua. The report by the council's experts points to Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo, the president's wife, as those responsible for the abuses. Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia Writing by Anthony Boadle Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
CHICAGO, March 3 (Reuters) - American Airlines (AAL.O) and its flight attendants union on Friday jointly applied for federal mediation in contract negotiations. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), which represents over 23,000 American flight attendants, said the decision to seek mediation is intended to move contract negotiations forward. The current round of negotiations started in January 2020 but was paused at the height of the pandemic. American Airlines said it welcomed the assistance from the National Mediation Board (NMB) to "maintain the positive momentum" in the negotiations. It is expected to assign a mediator who will set the timing and location of the negotiations.
watch nowThe way in which you and your soon-to-be-ex approach your divorce will have a big impact on the final price tag. If your divorce is contested or your partner isn’t cooperative, it’s important to prepare your financial mindset accordingly. Know the tax consequencesIf you’ve previously enjoyed tax savings from joint filing and/or claiming child-related tax benefits, your first “single” tax bill may be very different from what you’re used to. Many child-related tax benefits such as dependent or education credits can only be claimed by one filer, so you may want to plan ahead and address this in your settlement agreement. Your divorce attorney can work with financial and tax advisors so you are clear on the tax implications and how you can plan ahead.
The cross-border attacks followed an Israeli operation in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday. The Islamic Jihad said Israeli troops had surrounded two of its Nablus commanders in a house, triggering a clash that drew in other gunmen. Palestinian sources said the two Islamic Jihad commanders had been killed along with another gunman. Palestinian groups in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza went on strike on Thursday. Abdel-Latif Abdu, a vegetable seller in Gaza, kept his shop closed in support of residents of Nablus and the rest of the West Bank.
The union representing FedEx pilots unanimously approved a strike authorization vote last week, according to a Wednesday press release. According to a statement on the FedEx pilots' website, pilot leaders allege the company has failed to "acknowledge pilot contributions." After 30 days, pilots and management could exercise self-help, which could include a union strike or a company lockout. A statement by pilot leaders says FedEx customers should plan alternative means in the event of a pilot strike. The update comes a month after the Southwest Airlines pilots' union called a vote to authorize a potential strike after souring contract negotiations.
But NJ Transit is adamant they won’t negotiate at all,” said Jim Brown, president of the New Jersey Transit portion of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. “NJ Transit is currently engaged in active and ongoing mediation. Those rules unique to commuter railroads can mean it can take three times as long for a strike to be allowed. A freight rail strike would have kept about 30% of the nation’s freight from moving and been a crippling blow to the nation’s economy and supply chain. Phil Murphy’s press office declined to respond on the state of negotiations at NJ Transit when asked for a comment by CNN late last year, referring all questions to NJ Transit.
"International companies that were supposed to arrive for the first time in Kosovo told us that they were delaying opening shops due to the unstable situation," Fatmir Zymberi told Reuters. The main, longstanding fount of tensions is the refusal of 50,000 ethnic Serbs in north Kosovo to recognise the government in Pristina or Kosovo as a separate country. The area of north Kosovo where ethnic Serbs form a majority looks in some respects like an extension of Serbia. The Kremlin denied influencing Serbia to stir up conflict, saying Belgrade was just defending the rights of Kosovo Serbs. "I am more worried than I have been in many years about the risk of conflict in north Kosovo that could then spill into reprisal attacks on Serbs in south Kosovo.
Serbs in north Kosovo vent their rejectionism by refusing to pay the state utility for energy they use and often attacking police who try to make arrests. North Kosovo Serbs on Dec. 10 erected multiple roadblocks and exchanged fire with police after a former Serb policeman was arrested for allegedly assaulting serving police officers during a previous protest. But with nationalist hardliners powerful on both sides, not least among north Kosovo Serbs, no breakthrough is on the horizon. The area of north Kosovo where Serbs form a majority is in important ways a virtual extension of Serbia. Local Serbs fear that once fully integrated within Kosovo they could lose benefits such as Serbia's free public healthcare and be forced onto Kosovo's private healthcare system.
Italy bristles over Zelenskiy dinner snub in Paris
  + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +3 min
[1/2] Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni speaks to the media as she attends the European leaders summit in Brussels, Belgium February 9, 2023. REUTERS/Yves HermanBRUSSELS, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticised France and Germany on Thursday after she was not invited to a dinner in Paris with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, adding to friction between the European Union allies. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met Zelenskiy on Wednesday evening ahead of an EU summit on Thursday. But unlike last year, when the then-Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi worked hand-in-hand with Macron and Scholz on Ukraine, Meloni was left out in the cold. However, things were different when Draghi, a former president of the European Central Bank, was prime minister.
[1/2] People are pictured through Kosovo flag as they take part in celebrations of the 10th anniversary of Kosovo's independence in Pristina, Kosovo February 17, 2018. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a decade after a guerrilla uprising against Belgrade's rule. Kosovo in 2013 pledged to give more autonomy to local Serbs, who refuse to recognise its 2008 independence, through such an association as part of a peace deal. However, Kosovo's highest court said some parts of the deal violated the constitution and should be changed before it takes effect. The proposed 11-point deal would not require Serbia to recognise the independence of its former province, but Belgrade would have to stop lobbying against Kosovo's membership in international bodies.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett shared details of his mediations with Putin. Bennett says he made President Putin promise not to kill Ukraine's president. The former prime minister said he directly asked Putin if he planned to harm Zelenskyy. "He said, 'I won't kill Zelenskyy.' I then said to him, 'I have to understand that you're giving me your word that you won't kill Zelenskyy.'
In the five-hour interview, which touched on numerous other subjects, Bennett says he asked Putin about whether he intended to kill Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Are you planning to kill Zelenskyy?' He said 'I won't kill Zelenskyy.' I then said to him 'I have to understand that you're giving me your word that you won't kill Zelenskyy.' Bennett's government, an ideologically diverse union that sent current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into a brief political exile, collapsed in the summer over infighting.
Dozens of soldiers freed in Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap
  + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com   time to read: +2 min
Dozens of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners of war have returned home following a prisoner swap, officials on both sides said Saturday. Top Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak said in a Telegram post that 116 Ukrainians were freed. Russian defense officials, meanwhile, announced that 63 Russian troops had returned from Ukraine following the swap, including some "special category" prisoners whose release was secured following mediation by the United Arab Emirates. Two people were killed and 14 others wounded in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region by Russian shelling and missile strikes, local Gov. Elsewhere, regional Ukrainian officials reported overnight shelling by Russia of border settlements in the northern Sumy region, as well as the town of Marhanets, which neighbors the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Feb 4 (Reuters) - Ukraine and Russia traded almost 200 prisoners of war in a swap announced separately by both sides on Saturday, with the bodies of two British volunteers also being sent back to Ukraine. The Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said 116 Ukrainians had been returned, while Russian news agencies cited Moscow's defence ministry saying 63 Russian POWs had been freed. Yermak also said the bodies of British volunteer aid workers Andrew Bagshaw and Chris Parry had been sent back to Ukraine. Bagshaw and Parry were killed during an attempted humanitarian evacuation in eastern Ukraine in January, Parry's family has previously said. Russia's Defence Ministry said the released Russian servicemen included "sensitive category" persons, whose exchange was made possible through the mediation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to agencies.
Israel and Sudan Agree to Revive Peace Deal
  + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Dov Lieber | ) www.wsj.com   time to read: 1 min
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen met the president of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on Thursday. TEL AVIV—Israel and Sudan agreed to sign a peace agreement later this year, after earlier attempts by the African nation to normalize relations with Israel failed, Israel’s foreign minister said Thursday. Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen visited the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Thursday, where he met with the president of the Transitional Sovereign Council, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and other senior Sudanese officials, his office said in a statement. With U.S. mediation, the two sides agreed to the terms of a peace deal and planned to hold a signing ceremony in Washington in a few month’s time, after Sudan establishes a civilian government, the Israeli statement said.
GAZA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Israeli aircraft struck in Gaza on Thursday in response to Palestinian rocket fire, days after the United States called for calm, but there was no immediate sign of a wider escalation in violence following days of tension. The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) said it had fired some of the rockets in response to the air strikes and the "systematic aggression" against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. In Gaza, activists rallied in support of women prisoners held by Israel after far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees prisons, said he would push ahead with plans to toughen conditions for Palestinian prisoners. Ben-Gvir has vowed a crackdown on "benefits and indulgences" offered to Palestinian prisoners and ordered amenities including prisoner-operated bread ovens in some prisons to be curtailed. Cairo has also invited Hamas chief, Ismail Haniyeh, who currently resides between Qatar and Turkey, for separate talks next week, said a Palestinian official familiar with Egyptian mediation.
The WTO's appeals bench, which rules on top disputes, has been mothballed for over two years due to Trump-era blockages of adjudicator appointments. Under President Joe Biden, Washington has resisted calls by WTO members to approve appointments and has instead been leading negotiations on how to reboot the WTO's dispute system. "Our goal is a fully functioning (dispute system) by 2024," Deputy United States Trade Representative Maria Pagan told Reuters in her first public comments on the closed-door talks, saying Washington was "very committed" to reforms. The United States has criticized the WTO's alleged overreach and lengthy processes and it has strongly contested some of its recent rulings against the United States. Pagan described the process as "frustrating" but said she was hopeful a breakthrough had been found, without elaborating.
Digital twins are set for rapid adoption in 2023
  + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Bob Violino | ) www.cnbc.com   time to read: +7 min
This avatar is a personalised, hyper-realistic, 3D, #seriezero digital twin that they can use to interact on digital platforms and in the metaverse. In life sciences, digital twins are being used to create twins of human organs, enabling new approaches to medical research and care, Diana said. "We are going to see digital twins adopted rapidly in 2023, in many different industries," Diana said. Digital twins are gaining momentum in adoption and sophistication as more organizations see positive outcomes from the early adopters, Barrington said. "As more twins of critical assets and processes come online, leaders will leverage digital twins to not only model and simulate their supply chain, but to optimize and automate a dynamic and intelligent supply chain model — all orchestrated by digital twins," Barrington said.
Bangladesh Bank has accused RCBC and several others, including top executives, of conspiring to steal its money. The New York Supreme Court ruled on Jan. 13 that, contrary to Rizal bank's argument, it does have jurisdiction over the case, and dismissed Rizal bank's motion against Bangladesh Bank. In the same ruling, the court ordered the Bangladesh central bank and RCRC to initiate mediation. In response to the ruling, Rizal bank said it would continue to fight the case. Bangladesh Bank has welcomed the court ruling, saying in a statement this week that it clears the way for the matter to progress in court in New York as needed.
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